Although managers should be numerate (and many are not) they don’t require skills in higher algebra; and many great businesses have been created by men who all but count on their fingers.
A story tells of two schoolboy friends, one brilliant at maths, one innumerate to the point of idiocy, who meet much later when the first is a professor and the second a multimillionaire. Unable to control his curiosity, the professor asks the figure-blind dunderhead how he managed to amass his fortune. “It’s simple”, replies Midas. “I buy things at $1 and sell them at $2, and from that 1 per cent difference I make a living”. The business world is full of successful one-percenters who live, not by their slide rules, but by knowing the difference between a buying price and a selling price.
Although managers should be numerate (and many are not) they don’t require skills in higher algebra; and many great businesses have been created by men who all but count on their fingers. A story tells of two schoolboy friends, one brilliant at maths, one innumerate to the point of idiocy, who meet much later when the first is a professor and the second a multimillionaire. Unable to control his curiosity, the professor asks the figure-blind dunderhead how he managed to amass his fortune. “It’s simple”, replies Midas. “I buy things at $1 and sell them at $2, and from that 1 per cent difference I make a living”. The business world is full of successful one-percenters who live, not by their slide rules, but by knowing the difference between a buying price and a selling price.
Перевод
Не смотря на то, что менеджеры должны уметь считать (а многие этого не умеют), они не нуждаются в навыках высшей алгебры; и многие великие предприятия были созданы людьми, которые считают только на пальцах.
1 Англо-русский и русско-английский словарь (краткий)/Под ред. О.С. Ахмановой, Е.А.М. Уилсон. – 3-е изд., испр. – М.: Рус.яз., 1991.
